Some Other Little Projects

Far be it from me to leave anything alone, be it a house, a garden, a motorcycle, an old car or even a new(ish) vehicle. I just have to tear into it and mess with it, whatever it is.

Let’s start with the 2013 Honda XR650L, one of my first little projects. Bigger tank, hand guards, skid plate, modified high flow airbox, front sprocket change, gel seat, a real gear rack that can take some weight, slip-on muffler, rejetted carb, EGR/smog delete, upgraded foot pegs, etc. I was setting it up for a ride all the way to the tip of South America, but that never happened and the bike just sits and barely gets ridden.

Some Other Little Projects

The 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca.

First, a story about how I ended up with that car. While rebuilding the 1970 Boss 302, I got a lot of help from a guy in Orlando who’s not only an MCA judge but also owns a Concours Gold (Trailered) 70 B2. Super guy, very knowledgeable and on a trip to Florida I was able to meet him, check out his Boss AND saw another Boss under a cover – turns out it was a Black 2013 B302 LS he’d purchased new. I suddenly remembered when I was working in China and got to talking to an American consultant about the new Boss 302’s, both of us drooling over them at the time, but then I moved on to Russia and retired and totally forgot about them. Anyway, he mentioned it would be for sale “when his kids are old enough to drive” with the idea being to sell the Boss and buy cars for his kids with the proceeds, but as it turns out his kids were still young so “so much for that idea”.

A few months later I was working the gate at our local Mustang show and in come two black Mustangs, one a 2013 B302 LS and the other a 2016 Shelby GT350. I got to talking to the owner and he mentioned he was moving and both were for sale. Hmmm… Long story short, I offered to store them for him over the winter, and in the spring he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse on the LS, which only had 2541 miles at the time (the Shelby had even less!).

I reckoned with such low mileage I’d never drive it, but it’s just way too much fun and has over 10000 miles on it now! Mods include S550 rear tail lights (smoked), smoked markers and rear brake light, Corsa GT500 twin axle back mufflers (black) and GT500 rear valance, MGW short throw shifter, one-piece aluminum drive shaft, Dynavin D9 stereo/GPS with rear camera, alcantara shifter and parking brake boots, custom shifter ball, Ford Performance lowering springs, Koni adjustable shocks, Steeda jacking rails and adjustable panhard bar/brace, sound tube delete and engine bay cosmetic modifications, Shelby dedicated clutch reservoir and stainless steel hydraulic line, Ford Performance oil catch can and surely there’s more that I’ve forgotten…

Some Other Little Projects

Since the 66 F250 was no longer a “hauler”, it came time to upgrade – which leads to the F350 dualies.

As far as pickups go, I wanted a bit of extra space, a long bed and ability to haul a camper and a car trailer simultaneously – but I hate crew cabs, so that led me on the elusive hunt for an Extended Cab long bed F350 dually. My first one was a 2011, first year for the 6.7 Powerstroke – found it in Paduca, Kentucky, flew down and drive it back. Great truck, no issues but it was just lacking in the “modern bells and whistles” department, so off it went after I found a replacement, a 2022 (purchased in 2023) with less than 5000 miles on it.

For some reason Ford’s top trim level for this configuration is the Lariat, but the previous owner had ticked the boxes for every option available, including leather interior, 5th wheel package, snow plow package, heated/ventilated seats, 360 camera, trailer reverse guidance system, FX4 package, B&O sound system, etc. This one was in New Hampshire, which was quite a road trip to get it home but a fun time touring across the country with my wife. I haven’t gotten too crazy modding out this one, but did swap out to black Ford emblems (no more Blue Oval!), installed the Ford rear camera and TPMS system on my enclosed trailer and installed Morimoto LED headlights, tail lights and fog lights.